World News - An Explosion on the Moon So you thought nothing ever happens on the moon?

NASA scientists have observed an explosion on the moon. The blast, equal in energy to about 70 kg of TNT, occurred near the edge of Mare Imbrium (the Sea of Rains) on Nov. 7, 2005, when a 12-centimeter-wide meteoroid slammed into the ground traveling 27 km/s."What a surprise," says Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) researcher Rob Suggs, who recorded the impact's flash. He and colleague Wes Swift were testing a new telescope and video camera they assembled to monitor the moon for meteor strikes. On their first night out, "we caught one," says Suggs.Right: The red dot marks the location of the Nov. 7, 2005, meteoroid impact. Credit: NASA/MSFC/Bill Cooke. [Larger image]The object that hit the moon was "probably a Taurid," says MSFC meteor expert Bill Cooke. In other words, it was part of the same meteor shower that peppered Earth with fireballs in late October and early November 2005. (See "Fireball Sightings" from Science@NASA.)...http://science.nasa.gov

Retailers can blame the calendar. They can blame the weather. They can even try to blame New York City's transit strike. But in the end the 2005 shopping season may just be another case of merchants not giving shoppers what they really want -- must-have items at reasonable prices.Without white-hot apparel products or toys to lure people to the nation's malls and stores, many shoppers have opted to hold off until the final hours before Christmas, or until the post-Christmas sales to open wide their wallets. Consumers even have taken the easy way out by buying the procrastinator's savior: gift-cards."More Americans are waiting to the end to shop for Christmas than any other time in the last 10 years," said C. Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Research Group, based in Charleston, South Carolina. "The consumer was never excited about anything that they saw this Christmas."...http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/12/23/retailers.hopes.ap.ap/index.html?section=cnn_us

The Japanese government has decided to move forward with a ballistic missile defense program with the United States, a top government official said Saturday. Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said the government has decided to proceed with the joint development of a missile interceptor for the program, designed to use defensive missiles to destroy attacking ones. The effort is part of sweeping changes to Japan's defense policy launched by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Critics say the reforms are dismantling the country's post-World War II policy of pacifism. A year ago, Japan adopted new defense guidelines that ease its nearly three-decades-old ban on arms exports to allow it to develop a missile defense program with its closest ally, the United States. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1438899&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

A small-town teenager who was bullied for years by classmates because they believed he was gay was awarded $440,000 in a settlement, his lawyer said. The settlement Thursday ended a longrunning battle between the Tonganoxie School District and 18-year-old Dylan Theno, who sued in May 2004 claiming he was harassed with homophobic slurs from seventh grade until he quit school his junior year. Under the terms, the school district and its insurance company will pay Theno $440,000, said his attorney, Arthur Benson. "I expect this case will have profound effects nationwide in dealing with schoolyard bullying and harassment," Benson said. "Insurance companies will have a very powerful economic incentive to see that districts' anti-harassment policies are aggressive and effective." ...http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1438922

A French military tribunal opened an investigation Friday into allegations that French peacekeepers facilitated attacks on ethnic minority Tutsis during the 1994 genocide of more than half a million Rwandans, judicial officials said. A judge from the tribunal visited Rwanda last month to interview six survivors who had filed a lawsuit in February accusing troops of "complicity in genocide" and "crimes against humanity." The judge, Brigitte Raynaud, will head up the investigation, said the judicial officials, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. One of the central claims of the suit is that French soldiers allowed members of the Rwandan Armed Forces or militiamen to enter camps set up to protect Tutsis, said the survivors' lawyer, Antoine Comte. The Tutsis were later killed, he said....http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1438915&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

During world war two American troops away from home for Christmas were entertained by Marlene Dietrich, Bing Crosby and the Marx Brothers. Even in Vietnam Bob Hope was guaranteed to put in an appearance. But soldiers in Iraq are more likely to get a show from a Christian hip-hop group, a country singer you have probably never heard of and two cheerleaders for the Dallas Cowboys.Just as the seemingly intractable nature of the war has led to a growing recruitment crisis, so the United Services Organisation, which has been putting on shows for the troops since the second world war, is struggling to get celebrities to sign up for even a short tour of duty.It is a far cry from the days following the September 11 2001 attacks, when some of the biggest names in show business, from Jennifer Lopez to Brad Pitt, rallied to the cause. ...http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1673725,00.html